Pulled Straight from the Headlines of Life

The reporting of headline news, whether via television, radio, Internet or newspapers, is so very necessary to our society. We must stay updated on what's going on in the world no matter what our preference might be - international, financial, entertainment, etc. I don't think I'm alone in saying that as a writer, there are times when a news story strikes me in a way that I often wonder what would happen if a book was written about that particular topic, or if a scene was added into my story that explored a certain situation, similar to my makeover story, Make Me Hot, or my book about spousal abuse at the hands of a wife, Something He Can Feel. I've written blogs before about how true life is stranger than fiction, and lately, with the headlines just barely three weeks into 2011 alone, I've noticed it even more so.

Whether the topic is Ted Williams, the homeless man with the golden voice (we say all that glitters is not golden, and as my pastor said, all that's golden does not glitter either - we'll see) or gossip news about a politician or T.V. star, or the miracle story ABC calls The Politician and the Astronaut, involving congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (movie coming), or the story of a missing person who lost their memory and returned twenty years later, memory suddenly in tact trying to reconnect, or of a kidnapped baby who decades later sees her baby photo online and finds her birth mom, and the story of a white woman who has twins, one white, one black, and lastly, the woman who's separated from her husband and wins 190-million in the lottery and now he wants "half!" I'm sometimes surprised, but never amazed. Anything can happen. Case in point, years ago I wanted to write a story called The Black House, and here we are with an African American president - just ever thought I'd live to see it.

While authors don't sit around and wait for real life stories to fall into their laps as if we cannot come up with our own scenarios (we are way more creative than that), I'm once again reminded that everything we tend to say could "never" happen, most likely will or has already, and most plots we could come up with as writers, no matter how unlikely or far-fetched readers might think the angle might be, probably happened before, somewhere, and even in the Bible.

We bring our characters to life and take them on a dramatic journey, or should I say, they take us on a dramatic journey, that sometimes amazes even us. Yet and still, whether fiction or reality, our lives are filled with tragedy, illness, divorce, sadness, love, addiction, growth, abuse, setbacks, miracles, stardom, death, birth, lies, fallen heroes, and so on - such is life. It's all to be told, whether on the news or in a book or in a song. Write on, writers. Write on!